


You're Still You

by BoydTheReaver



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Protagonist Names, Alternate Universe - Trans, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Shinobu Hattori, Shinobu is literally the most understanding coolest boyfriend in the history of forever, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, trans!Futaba
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2019-01-16 13:58:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12344076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BoydTheReaver/pseuds/BoydTheReaver
Summary: Futabaverynervously comes clean regarding her true orientation, and Shinobu proves himself as a positively awesome boyfriend.~Kink Meme Prompt: "My city is having a pride week, and honestly, I was a bit afraid to post this, even during pride month, but now or never, right?Can I have a sweet, happy story where Akira's girlfriend comes out to him as a transwoman? And he happily accepts her and loves her? don't mind smut, as long as it's sweet and tender and not fetishistic if that makes sense.OP has a preference for Akira/Makoto, but any pairing is acceptable!"





	You're Still You

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry I'm late Anon, I hope you had a fun Pride Week! And I apologize if there's some inaccuracies regarding Transgender stuff, I'm not all that experienced with it, hehe. ^^;
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy!

“…Futaba? Is there something wrong?”

‘Something wrong’ would be something of an understatement. Futaba, uncharacteristically for the peppy, sweet girl that Shinobu Hattori fell in love with, was anxiously pacing back and forth, biting at her fingers, and overall trying to keep her emotions in check with her overbearing behavior. It was driving Shinobu _more_ than a bit crazy, especially since she didn’t really notice that he was standing in front of her. Then again, given how Futaba sounded so nervous on the phone call on how she _really_ needed, in her own words, “a pre-raid discussion.”

“Futaba,” Shinobu was a bit gentler in his voice with his girlfriend. “Are you listening?”

 _“EEK!”_ Futaba nearly jumped out of her skin as she froze in place, taking a deep breath all the while. Shinobu just blinked stupidly. Was she really _this_ nervous that she didn’t even realize he was standing in front of her?

 _“K-Kage! Ahahahahaha…!”_ Futaba’s plastic laugh hinted at extreme anxiety. “W-What’re you doing here?! I, uh, thought you weren’t going to arrive, until, like, _later?!”_

Shinobu, rather absent-mindedly, adjusted his glasses a bit. “I-I’m… sorry? Futaba, why’re you acting so anxious? This is completely out of character for you.”

Judging from the sweat covering her brow in the cool, autumn air, Futaba was pacing around for an _hour._

But regardless, she was calm. As calm as a panicked, 15-year old could be, anyway; Futaba threw a shaky breath before shaking her head quietly. Shinobu noticed that the tiny hacker was gripping at her fists – white-knuckled – and was breathing and sweating. The leader of the Phantom Thieves wasn’t exactly all too sure why she was so anxious.

In Futaba’s mind, she personally chalked this very moment up to her rolling a Fortitude check.

“P-Please,” Futaba’s lips pursed, her quivering reaching a crescendo. “W-Wait right there, okay? Don’t. Move.”

Shinobu blinked stupidly. “Uh… okay…?”

Futaba, rather hastily, rushed into the bathroom. Shinobu simply sat there awkwardly, shuffling a bit as he heard the scattering of pill boxes and other sorts of medication before Futaba came to Shinobu – her _key item_ – with an auspicious pill bottle in her hands.

“I… I want you to have this, Kage,” Despite mustering up her plastic smile, her voice shuddered as she nervously placed the bottle into the cusp of Shinobu’s hands. “M-Maybe this’ll help you understand.

Shinobu examined the fine print of the medicine bottle.

**_Spironolactone_ **

“I… I used to take this kind of medicine,” Futaba murmured under her breath. “Before the surgery.”

At that moment, Shinobu’s perception of time nearly slowed down to a halt.

Stupidly, he glanced over to the pill bottle, then to Futaba. Then to Futaba, then back to the pill bottle. And the more and more he glanced back and forth between the two items, the more and more he began to realize the correlation between the pill bottle and Futaba.

“Oh, my _God.”_ Shinobu gawked. “You’re – “

“W-Well… yeah,” Futaba shifted awkwardly. “I, um… figured you’d be able to figure it out.”

Silence reigned. It took a moment or two for Shinobu to process the information going into his head before turning up to meet Futaba’s eyes.

This time, with a smile.

“Oh, Futaba,” Shinobu smiled. “Futaba, that’s – “

“Oh God, _I’m so sorry.”_

“Huh?!”

Futaba bolted off in such a hurry that Shinobu almost didn’t notice Futaba completely fall apart. She ran off sobbing hysterically into her hands, hearing wild sniffling all the while. Shinobu had barely enough time to process Futaba’s suddenly departure before running after her.

“What the – wait! _Wait!”_ Shinobu screamed as he rushed after her girlfriend. _“FUTABA, GET BACK HERE!”_

* * *

_"NO! No, no, no…”_

Futaba ran to the one place she found comfort in: the basement of the Sakura household. Whenever she was little or she felt completely over-stressed, Futaba would just run there to _hide_ away from the outside world. This was one of those times, and weakly, Futaba collapsed halfway onto the stairway connecting the first floor with the basement, sat on the step, and began _sobbing_ as she choked on her own tears and snot.

 _“NO!”_ Futaba screamed. _“STUPID, STUPID, **STUPID!** FUTABA, you IDIOT, why did you SAY THAT?! Now you KNOW Kage’s going to hate yo – “_

_“FUTABA!”_

Shinobu proceeded down the stairs, out of breath. God, when motivated, Futaba can move fast as _hell._

“Futaba, what the hell is your _deal?!”_ Shinobu said completely out of breath. “You _cannot_ just run off like that without telling me you’re a trans woman!”

In hindsight, Shinobu would internally kick him for his poor choice of words. Futaba began breaking down even _harder._

Sniffling and weeping evolved into full-blown sobbing, as the young hacker of the Phantom Thieves continued to choke weakly on her own tears and snot. Blowing a bit out of her nose, she only had enough courage in her to turn and meet Shinobu’s dark brown eyes, her own eyes quivering with translucent tears.

“G-Go _away,_ Kage,” Futaba choked softly. “C-Can’t you just leave me _alone?!”_

“Alone?! What the hell are you – “ Shinobu shook ahead. “You didn’t even _listen_ to what I was going to say, for Christ’s sake! Can’t you just _pause_ for a moment and actually _listen_ to what I want to say to yo – “

 _“NO!”_ Futaba screamed, stomping her foot on the ground. _“BECAUSE WHAT **ELSE** IS THERE TO DISCUSS WITH YOU, GODDAMNIT?! I WAS **NOT** BORN A GIRL, AND I **NEVER** WANTED TO BE A GUY! IF ALL YOU’RE GOING TO DO IS SAY YOU HATE ME, WHY DON’T YOU SAVE ME THE TIME AND – “_

Shinobu had _enough._

Shinobu proceeded to kiss Futaba.

 _“Grrrmph…?!”_ Futaba almost had no time to process Shinobu’s lips meeting her own, her rapid-fire fear and hyperventilation slowing down with her pounding heart race, until after a moment or two, she felt herself melting into her boyfriend’s lips, sighing happily as her mouths touched at a very unchaste angle.

Taking the moment to release his own lips from Futaba’s, Shinobu turned a bright shade of red before shaking his head awkwardly.

“Uh… sorry,” Shinobu, rather unusually for the suave and sophisticated Joker, was stumbling for words. “I really should’ve told you upright.”

Futaba, for once this evening, was at a loss of words. “K-Kage… you just _kissed_ me – “

“I _know_ I just kissed you, okay?!” Shinobu blurted out. “How _else_ was I going to convey the message that I love you _perfectly for who you are?!”_

Futaba nearly froze up upon hearing those words.

“…wait,” Futaba’s voice trembled. “You’re actually telling me that – “

“Futaba, would I _really_ care about whether you’re a trans woman or not?” Shinobu gave a small, understanding smile. “You’re still you. You’re still _Oracle_ , the same, irreplaceable member of the Phantom Thieves’ you’ve always been. And you’re still Futaba Sakura, girlfriend of Joker himself.”

Futaba was so stunned into silence by those words that Futaba almost didn’t notice her eyes began to prick a bit.

Sniffling weakly as her face contorted with more tears, she gently collapsed into Shinobu’s arms that she began _wailing._ This time, she wasn’t crying out of sadness or fear, but rather at pure _joy_ regarding the circumstances. Futaba’s lips contorted into a smile as she hiccupped gently into her lover’s arms.

“So you _do_ understand,” Futaba murmured weakly, still sobbing. “I thought you were going to _hate_ me.”

“Futaba…” Shinobu smiled, stroking at her orange hair a bit. “Again, would I _really_ hate you for who you are? You’re still the most beautiful person I’ve ever met.”

Futaba continued to hiccup gently, sniffling as Shinobu continued to caress her hair. It was after a light, terse silence that Futaba finally let go, breathing in and out a bit.

“T-Thank you, Kage…” Futaba smiled happily, before blushing. “A-And, uh… s-sorry I ran off in panic like that. I was just so afraid that you’d hate me for being trans and – “

“Futaba, you _know_ I’d never hate you.” Shinobu nodded with a smile, before frowning for a moment. “Though, uh… why did you keep it a secret for this long? I would’ve been perfectly fine with you being honest about it.”

Futaba’s smile faltered. Her tiny hands balled up a bit, and silence reigned for a tad bit longer before she finally had the courage to speak again.

“Fuhito.”

“…huh?”

“Fuhito Sakura.” Futaba breathed in a bit. “That’s… that’s my dead name.”

Shinobu blushed a bit, knowing enough about transgender people to know how confidential this information was. “O-Oh, um… why tell me this?”

“Well… you probably know how the story usually goes. I was born a boy, and I _do_ have boy-related interests,” Futaba glanced down at the grown and gently kicked the wall. “But I never felt comfortable with _being_ a boy. I just felt like I was born into the wrong body and all I’ve ever wanted was to _not_ be a guy.”

“Mom was pretty understanding, honestly.” Futaba nodded. “She… she helped completed my operation before the car crash. Of course, with what she said in her will, I genuinely thought she helped my transition for no other reason than to get me off of her back… but I understand that she did it because she loved me.”

Futaba felt her eyes prick one more. “…though understandably, middle school wasn’t as forgiving.”

Silence.

“Um…” Shinobu paused for a moment. “…is that why you dropped out after graduating?”

“Yes.”

Silence once again persisted another moment. Upon sensing discomfort with his girlfriend, Shinobu gently scooped his girlfriend into her arms and kissed her on her forehead.

“I want you to make no mistake when I say this, Futaba,” the jovial, cocky Joker’s eyes glimmered with a determination seldom found. “Trans or not, I still _love_ you. And if _anybody_ tries to give you shit about this, they have to go through _me.”_

Futaba paused for a moment. She sniffled some of her other tears, and happily returned the embrace.

“T-Thank you so much, Shinobu…” Futaba happily whimpered tears as she clutched into her boyfriend’s arms. “I love you so much…”

“And I love you too, Futaba.”

The young couple parted only for Futaba to blush a bit. “Just, um… promise me one thing, Kage.”

Shinobu looked serious. “Anything, Futaba.”

“Please… promise me,” Futaba shook her head. “Nobody knows except you, me and Sojiro. As far as the others’ know, I’m just a normal girl.”

“Futaba…” Shinobu nodded. “Alright, that’s a promise. My opinion on you isn’t changing anyway.”

Futaba smiled gently, caressing her boyfriend’s hands. Immediately, she felt warm and happy, and tears once more began to prick at her eyes.

“Kage…” Futaba smiled. “Thank you. This… this means a lot to me.”

“Just like how much _you_ mean to _me?”_

Futaba giggled as the suave, cocky Joker returned into full bloom. Futaba found herself merry and giddy as she bashfully continued to hold hands with her boyfriend, whom Futaba finds to be the single-most awesome human being on the planet. And she _really_ wouldn’t have it any other way.

_Fin_

**Author's Note:**

> Cheers, Anon!


End file.
